How to Make a Decision

One of my best friends is an artist, and I’m always reminded of the similarities between the demands of our professions. He once told me the worst part of planning a series of paintings for a show was standing before a blank white canvas. He said there were always so many ideas running through his head, he simply couldn’t decide where to begin. Which, I told him, was not unlike staring at a blank computer screen with hands poised over keyboard. That’s when it occurred to me that the essence of a writer’s job—and a painter’s, for that matter—is to narrow choices from all the possibilities in the universe and distill them into one set of related ideas: Our job is to make decisions.

Before beginning our stories and all along the way, we make decisions about the traits for our characters, the settings for our scenes, and the turning points for our plots. As characters grow and scenes unfold, there are countless crossroads at which we must make decisions that will (hopefully) result in taking an engaging character on an interesting journey to its inevitable conclusion. If something goes awry along the way, you (or an editor) can probably trace it to a poor decision, perhaps one made unconsciously. Sometimes unconscious decisions can lead to interesting story developments, but more often than not, decisions made off the cuff can lead to trouble—and backtracking.

The same is true of planning any career: In general, decisions made under informed, calm conditions will result in less backtracking than decisions made on the spur of the moment. On the other hand, if you plod along, making no decisions at all and letting the chips fall where they may, you’re not likely to get very far.

To improve your decision-making skills, you must (1) (this is a biggie) accept the fact that by choosing one option, you are—at least in the short run—saying no to other options which might be just as attractive, (2) accept the responsibility for the outcome of the option you choose, and (3) learn from your mistakes. And know this: People who seem so confident in their decision-making skills are not so confident about the outcome of their decisions—they are instead confident that they’ll be able to handle the outcome of their decisions and move on. If you never make a move, you’ll never gain the experience needed to make subsequent decisions more successfully.

If you have many partial manuscripts (or half-begun hobbies), but no finished projects, or if your career is languishing, the problem might not lie in your work ethic, but in your ability to make decisions…and to stick to them!

Stephanie Bond walked away from a corporate computer programming career to write fiction full-time. To-date she has over 60 mystery and romance novels to her name, including the Kindle bestselling humorous mystery OUR HUSBAND and the Kindle bestselling romantic comedy STOP THE WEDDING. Look for the first book in the new TWO GUYS DETECTIVE AGENCY mystery series, available now. Stephanie lives in midtown Atlanta.

Yes, Laura nailed it for me. I spent a month “considering” where to start my current book. I was scared to commit and cut off any other brilliant ideas that might occur.

I love this line: “People who seem so confident in their decision-making skills are not so confident about the outcome of their decisions—they are instead confident that they’ll be able to handle the outcome of their decisions and move on”

I promise you–your readers would rather get another book from you sooner than to wait on the “perfect” book. Besides…no one else knows the ideas we cast aside to make a comparison! I think we’re used to tying ourselves in knots to please an editor/buying comittee…but we don’t have to worry anymore about investing time in a book that won’t sell…if an editor doesn’t buy it, we can publish it ourselves!

Almost everyone likes having lots of choices–having choices is freedom. (The smorgasbord at the bodega makes it so tempting to try everything!) As soon as we choose one thng from a set menu, we’re committed, and that can seem limiting. But I keep telling myself that this isn’t my only or my last meal!

Decisions, decisions….the first part of the stories are always the hardest for me–too many options:)

One thing I have learned about my writing process is where I think the story should start, isn’t always the case. I don’t know how many times I go back and rewrite the first chapter…or just jettison it altogether.

But, if I make too many decisions up front, then some really interesting plot developments would never hit me in the middle of the book…so, it’s always a fine line. I usually know where I’m going with the story, but how I get there is a bit murky:)

I like having an outline…that actually makes me feel MORE free because I know if I go off on a tangent, I have my roadmap for getting back. I don’t have to worry about getting lost, so I allow myself to explore little side roads along the way.

And I have the same experience with where to start the story–sometimes I get it right from the get-go, sometimes I have to go back and reconsider where the story should start.

Before I got serious about writing, I had over 100 beginnings and no endings — I couldn’t stick with a story. I’d get another shiny idea and pursue that for 30, 50, 100 pages and then have another great idea and so on and so on … it wasn’t until I told myself that I had to FINISH if I was ever going to sell that I committed myself to one story. (I never sold that, but finishing it gave me the courage to finish another, and another …)

I wish we knew the stats on how many people start a book and how few people finish one! You learn so much about yourself as a writer when you take an idea to completion. That decision you made to finish the book changed the trajectory of your career and your life!

I think the lightbulb for me was just accepting that I’d have an opportunity cost with every choice–there are 100 ways to write a book and 99 of them are equally as good! That’s hard for a writer to accept because we want to think that OUR version is the best version that could ever exist–it isn’t. But the version with the best chance of selling well is the version that’s DONE!

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Bio:

Allison Brennan

Allison Brennan is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nearly three dozen romantic thrillers and mysteries, including the Lucy Kincaid series and the Max Revere series. She lives in Northern California with her husband, five children, and assorted pets.